T.N.T. – XIII
Review by Adam McCann
Frontiers Records – 2018 – Hard Rock/AOR/Melodic Hard Rock
It has been eight years since T.N.T. released their last album ‘A Farewell to Arms’. In that time, the Norwegian hard rockers have encountered numerous line-up changes; the most important of which has been the departure for the second time of vocalist Tony Harnell. The band immediately began to search for a replacement, settling on the unknown Baol Bardot Bulsara from Spain before releasing their latest album ‘XIII’.
Obviously, this change is immediately noticeable, the melodic tones of Harnell were almost undeniable, yet Bulsara fills this void exceptionally well and it is perfectly understandable why T.N.T. chose his talent. Unfortunately, with this change comes the inevitable finding your feet album and as good as ‘XIII’ sounds, it is full of typical, safe sounding songs with the band seemingly unwilling to step beyond their comfort zone. However, this does not make ‘XIII’ poor, far from it and whilst some of the tracks are relatively average, many of the tracks such as ‘We’re Gonna Make It’, ‘People Come Together’ and the anthemic partying song ‘Get Ready For Some Hard Rock’ make up this deficit.
Long time fans of T.N.T. will not be disappointed with ‘XIII’, although the band stick to what they know, the addition of Bulsara gives the band a breath of fresh air and whilst it may be a far cry from the bands hey-day of the late 80’s, ‘XIII’ is fun and enjoyable, it shows that there is plenty of charge left within the band, especially with the biting ‘Not Feeling Anything’ and yet the band still manage to pull beautiful melodic numbers out of the hat.
‘XIII’ is nowhere near the one of the best albums released this year, even amongst its genre. But it does have an enjoyable charm that will certainly appeal to not just fans of T.N.T., but those within the genre who may not be aware of the bands legacy.
Rating : 71/100
MHF Magazine/Adam McCann
